TIME TRAVEL TO FLUXUS

There is no doubt that nowadays “Fluxus” as a noun referring to an important event in the art history of the 20th century is attached with a label of the past. It represents a kind of old-school vanguard of anti-art.In fact, after a long time, Fluxus has also been included in the history of art and become a classic term in art. This can be seen as a paradox resulting from a prototype alienated through the passing of time.But after all, the birth of Fluxus stirred up genuine excitement in its time when the revolution of artistic views illuminated various forms of performance art. These performances accumulated to change the essence of meaning and ignite a series of events which were recorded by the emerging video media. As a result, performances, events and media constitute the art of “Fluxus”. Now after the past of half a century, as the magnetic head rubs the old magnetic tracks, the linguistic codes of the past are deciphered, and on the dark screen of history flash those mythological names – George Maciunas, John Cage, Joseph Beuys, Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, Joe Jonas and Ben Patterson. With rebellious ideas and disobedient behaviors, they ended up modern art in the industrial age and opened a door towards post-modern art. Through the door we know that noises may be sacred, and video is even philosophical.In the past thirty years which has witnessed the birth, development, downturn, transformation and death of Chinese modern art, “Fluxus” has not been a word mentioned frequently. It did not influence Chinese modern art as a whole combined of language and artistic views. On the contrary, the revolution of ideas and experiments of language in “Fluxus” gradually made their way into China with only fragments and broken pieces. Chinese modern artists got their initial perceptual knowledge about Fluxus from a fat chair by Joseph Beuys, a video image by Nam June Paik, or the explanation of what silence means in 4’33’’ in a chapter of a book about art history. They never had a comprehensive understanding of Fluxus, and seldom talked about it correctly. In Chinese modern art, “Fluxus” is similar to a veiled shadow of history, which is present everywhere at every moment yet still remains somewhat silent.Fluxus, as a temporal point in the history and a remarkable milestone in the art history, is destined to be repeatedly interpreted by later generations, and interpretations will be different from each other in different historical and cultural contexts. Such differences are sure to induce doubts and questions about the art history of different time and in different regions so that people can make amendments and complements to their art history from new perspectives. The whole process is indeed time travelling with the spirit of scientific fiction – to go backward to a moment in the history from the present.By Cao Kai